Journalist responses to ethnic tensions

This two-pronged study is composed of a content analysis of the Daily Nation and the Kenya Times as well as a survey of 21 journalists who work for those two newspapers. The content analysis was conducted for the November 1, 1992 to January 31, 1993 editions of both papers, excluding Sunday editions. The sampling period included the final two months of the 1992 Kenyan general elections campaign, and the month that followed it. National news, opinion, and letter pages of both papers were analyzed. The survey featured some open-ended questions and some statements to which the respondents were asked to respond on a five-point scale ranging from "disagreeing strongly" through "neither agree nor disagree" to "agree strongly". The content analysis of the papers suggests that journalists are willing to report ethnic conflicts, especially if they result in violence. They believe ethnic tensions are influential, dangerous, and often politically motivated. Neither Daily Nation nor the Kenya Times de-emphasizes articles or opinions referring to ethnicity to an extent that would suggest that ethnic concerns do not exist, or are unimportant in Kenya. Both dailies avoided treating ethnic phenomena with silence. The survey suggests that the issue of ethnicity is not ignored; however it is not treated by journalists as the essential key to understanding the country. Kenyan journalists appear to be optimistic about the resolution of ethnic conflicts, and their role in that resolution.